Railway hopper car



Feb. 25, 1936. c. F. FREDE ET AL RAILWAY HOPPER CAR 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed Aug. 13, 1954 Feb. 25, 1936.

c. F. FREDE El AL 2,032,204

RAILWAY HOPPER CAR Filed Aug. 13. 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l j] j j! Her/ y A: 72/21:

J 'WW Patented Feb. 25, 1936 2 UNITED STATES RAILWAY HOPPER CAR Charles Frede and Harry E. Thiele, St. Louis,

Mo., assignors to GeneraljStcel Castings Corporation, Granite City, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application August 13, 1934, Serial No. 739,532

2 Claims.

This invention relates to railway rolling stock and consists in novel underframe structure for hopper cars.

It has been suggested to form the individual hoppers in hopper cars as unitary castings which are secured to the remainder of the underframe, or to form several hoppers and the center sill with the entire underframe as an integral casting. The adjacent hopper end walls frequently merge to form transverse bracing members for the underframe. However, in such structures the thin broad walls of the hoppers present substantial casting difliculties, particularly due to shrinkage stresses set up during cooling of the metal which tend to strain or rupture the casting.

One object of the present invention is to provide hopper structure in which the hopper walls are corrugated to prevent cracks or other damage in the structure due to shrinkage stresses, the

corrugations extending towards the hopper openings so as not to impede dumping.

Another object is to form a plurality of hoppers in an integral casting with the end walls of adjacent hoppers merging to form a transverse bracing member and these walls being provided with longitudinal corrugations extending over the crest of .the member for strengthening the same and also for preventing damage due to shrinkage strains.

These objects and others are attained substantially by the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top view of a hopper car underframe embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a side view and vertical longitudinal section of the same taken on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figures 4 and 5 are partial vertical transverse sections taken on the corresponding section lines of Figure 1.

The hopper car underframe illustrated in the drawings is formed in entirety as an integral casting including the center sill I, draft sills 2, bolsters 3, side sills 4, and the lower portions of four hoppers generally indicated at 5. The side sills 4 form the upper edges of the outer side walls 6 of the hoppers and the inner walls 1 thereof merge with and are, in part, formed by the side walls of the center sill as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The outer end walls 8 of the hoppers terminate adjacent the upper edge of the center sill and are perforated, as at 9, for attachment to separately formed slope sheets for continuing the hopper floors upwardly. The inner end walls I 0 are provided with hopper openings II and brackets Ila for mounting the hopper doors and for operating mechanism (not shown). These walls l0 merge at the center in the substantially inverted V- shaped transverse bracing member designated I2 extending continuously across the underframe and reinforced at the middle by the center sill and at the ends by the side sills.

At the intersections of the center sill and bolsters are the gussets I3 and M, the former being arranged for attachment to underframe diagonal braces (not shown) and the latter having pads Ma for mounting an air brake cylinder (also not shown). The bolsters include side bearings l5 and center bearings 16.

The broad thin outer end Walls 8 of the hoppers are provided with the corrugations I1 and Ila which prevent weakening or cracking of these walls due to strains set up during cooling of the metal and also substantially strengthening the same without increasing the thickness of the metal. The corrugations I! for the hoppers at the right hand portion of the car extend parallel to each other and longitudinally towards the hopper openings H. The corrugations Ila for the hoppers at the left hand portion of the car are wider at their upper ends than at their lower ends to conform with the general contour of the end walls 8. If desired, the corrugations in all of the hopper end walls may be the same as corrugations H or corrugations Ila. The outer side walls 6 of the hoppers are provided with corrugations I8 for accommodating shrinkage strains in these parts.

As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the merging end walls ID of the hoppers on one side of the underframe are provided with longitudinal corrugations l9 extending over the crest of the inverted V-shaped member l2 and towards the hopper openings for preventing damage to this part of the structure due to shrinkage strains and also strengthening the member. 0n the opposite side of the underframe these corrugations are omitted. It will be understood, however, that both sides of the underframe will preferably be formed identical, the variations in the opposite sides in the drawings being illustrative.

By means of the illustrated structure, all of the broad thin web portions of the casting may be adequately reinforced. and arranged to Withstand shrinkage strains arising during cooling of the metal. Obviously the corrugations may be varied as to size and also as to disposition, al-

though preferably they will be disposed towards the hopper openings as illustrated so as not to impede dumping.

Various details of the underframe are not es-' verse bracing membe ythere being longitudinal corrugations in said member extending over the crest thereof and downwardly on each side towards the hopper openings. g

2. A hopper car integral cast structure including adjacent hoppers with their endwalls cor-' rugated to relieve said walls of shrinkage strains; adj'acent'walls of said *hoppersmerging in a substantially inverted V-shaped member, all of the corrugations extending towards the hopper openings and the corrugations in said merging Walls extending continuously over the crest of said member.

V CHARLES F. FREDE.

HARRY E. THIELE. 

